On this edition of KBOO News in Depth:
Further rollbacks of vaccine advisories are on hold for a few more weeks. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was scheduled to meet this week, but the meeting has now been pushed off until March 18th. The Committee had not yet posted the agenda for the upcoming meeting to the CDC website, meaning they couldn't legally meet. But next month, the Committee is expected to make several recommendations on seasonal vaccines, including flu, RSV, and Covid-19. ACIP members have already expressed concerns about Covid-19 vaccine — particularly the single dose mRNA vaccine — claiming it is dangerous and should be taken off the market.
In June last year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy fired all existing members of ACIP; many of the new members are vaccine skeptics. Over the past year, the ACIP panel has issued several controversial recommendations, particularly on the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella — MMRV — vaccine; eliminating the Hep-B vaccine at birth; and tightening eligibility for the Covid-19 vaccine. ACIP Chair Kirk Milhoan stated in January that the polio vaccine should not be mandatory.
The committee’s recommendations come amid a rise in vaccine preventable illnesses, including measles, which was declared eliminated at the start of this century. Vaccine skepticism has also dramatically risen in the US: roughly 1 in 6 parents — 16% — have skipped or delayed a recommended vaccine, according to a 2025 poll released jointly by KFF and The Washington Post.
American Community Media spoke with Dr. Richard Besser, the CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- KBOO